Survey finds 66% won’t talk about money openly
Every year, Money Helper runs its ‘Talk Money Week’ campaign to get you talking about your finances – whether you’re saving, paying off debt, or just getting by.
The theme of Talk Money Week 2025 is ‘start the conversation’. With this in mind, we created a survey to get a sense of the financial landscape amongst our audience*. As well as gathering data for the insights we’ll cover below, we hoped that taking part in the survey would initiate conversations about money that may not have been had otherwise.
We discovered that...
- 54% of participants have an emergency fund of 3-6 months’ expenses.
- 65% of those surveyed invest their money, and 69% of those who invest began between 18-34.
- 64% have never worked with an independent financial adviser to create a financial plan and only 52% take their long-term goals into account when reviewing their finances. Despite this, ‘saving for the future’ was the most cited financial goal right now.
- The majority of participants are focused on 'saving for the future' or 'growing my wealth' as their main financial goals, showing a strong orientation toward long-term financial planning.
- More respondents learn about money from family and/or friends than any other source, and yet 65% of participants either don’t talk about money openly or only do so with those closest to them – predominantly reasoned by the conversation feeling too personal.
- 60% don’t feel confident making big financial decisions on their own.
So, what does it mean?
It means that even with a group of individuals who generally have savings, are focussed on long-term planning and often invest, confidence in making big financial decisions is still low and most still don’t talk openly about money or work with a professional. For those paying off debt or in financial difficulty, conversations can be even more difficult. But talking about it can help to de-stigmatise the issue, and research shows that people who talk about money make better and less risky financial decisions. (Source here)
Start the conversation – we're here to talk
If your main financial goal right now is saving for the future, a financial plan can help ensure that you’re on track and making the best decisions with your money. Our financial planning journey analyses your circumstances and aspirations to craft a bespoke plan tailored to your needs.
Have a chat with one of our independent financial advisers today.
*Survey had 84 respondents
